Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The first day is in the books

Well, the first day of fall football practice is in the books for the Aggies.

First off, it's the first day of practice. Painting the entire picture for the entire team would be unfair and inaccurate. The group wasn't even in pads today. Still, here were a few things that caught my eye.

Warner takes the field: Defensive tackle Branden Warner made his much-anticipated debut for the Aggies on Wednesday and looked good, at least from what I saw. Here was the picture:

The offensive and defensive lines were doing one-on-one drills along the practice field's north endzone. Warner lined up over the guard and on both rushes got through the hole. The first one he got taken to the outside and held up. The second he moved swiftly through the line and got to the quarterback, which created a buzz among his fellow defensive linemen.

I actually thought the entire defensive line looked good. E.J. Cannon is a big body and I think there could be depth here. Just something to keep an eye on during camp.

Running backs will be a strength: We've been saying it since the team hit the field in spring practice, the running backs look to be a strength of this team.

Marquell Colston can run the ball in between the tackles and did so a handful of times on Wednesday. He's shifty in traffic. The big question for Marquell is health. He came up gimpy after one run, but stayed in there for a few more. Still, he needs to be out there.

Tonny Glynn looks to have a bounce back season and will get opportunities to carry the ball.

The one who came out of nowhere on Wednesday was Donavan Roberts, a sophomore who saw very limited time last season. He showed a burst out there and is competing with Seth Smith for the No. 3 spot on the depth chart heading into Week 1. Another name to watch as the month of August unfolds.

“Yeah, we got some good backs,” offensive coordinator Timm Rosenbach said. “And we'll need every single one of them.”

The wide receivers: There are a lot of receivers in camp with the Aggies and just about all of them saw snaps on Wednesday. The incumbents — Marcus Anderson, Julius Fleming and Todd Lee — all got time. Darrius Preston is a good athlete and Marcus Allen was visible.

Anderson will once again be a part of the offense. He remains a player who can make things happen with the ball in his hands.

A few tight ends: Kyle Nelson made some grabs and could develop into a reliable target.

One player to keep an eye on is Kyle Hipp, a newcomer from Southern California. He's a big target and someone Walker likes.

Alphonso Powell: He was lining up at safety next to Junior Fasavalu on the first-team defense. Chris Buckner was opposite Davon House at cornerback.

The quarterbacks: I thought Fleming and Walls had some good throws. It's really early. I wrote a story in Thursday's Sun-News about the quarterback competition between all three players. It's also in our online section.